ISLAMABAD: Heavy rains continued to lash different parts of the country on Sunday, causing destruction of proper-ties and casualties as at least 22 people were killed and scores of others were wounded during the last 24 hours in separate incidents across the country.
Several plain and hilly areas of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Punjab received heavy downpours, which flooded streams and rivers, as well as caused landslides in mountainous regions.
In KP, at least nine people died in separate rain-related incidents, including four who drowned in a flood relay in Karak city today. The bodies of the victims were pulled out from the raging water during a search operation, rescue officials said.
As many people including women and children, sustained injuries in a roof collapse incident amid heavy rain in KP’s North Waziristan district.
Separately, another casualty was reported in Sindh by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) on Saturday.
Balochistan was the most affected province as heavy rains wreaked havoc, killing as many as 12 people in separate incident in a day, according to the Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).
The torrential downpours also left at least 32 people injured as a result of lightning strikes and floods with the rain spell also damaging 263 houses, of which 91 were completely destroyed.
Rain water entered houses and shops in low-lying areas in different cities and creating flood like situa-tion, specifically in Mirpur Khas and Dadu streams.
As a result of heavy flow of floodwater, cracks appeared on two newly constructed bridges on a flood protection dyke in Dadu’s Tehsil Johi.
Meanwhile, stormy rains in Balochistan inundated roads and low-lying areas of Chaman and Sibi, whereas, Toba Achakzai, Killa Abdullah, Muslim Bagh, Badini, Khanozai, Ziarat, and other areas.
The roads leading to tourist spots above the Ziarat Valley were affected due to heavy rainfalls.
According to local administration, a high-level flood was passing through the Bolan River at the locality of Pinjra Bridge where Levies personnel were deployed for relief activities.
Meanwhile, a high-level flood was also witnessed in Nari Headworks, Talli River and Lehri River.
The recent torrential rains in Balochistan not only affected 312 acres of crops and 19-kilometre of roads but also resulted in the deaths of 106 animals.
In the wake of torrential monsoon rains in the country, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has warned of high to very high levels of flash flooding in Balochistan and south-western Pun-jab in the days to come.
The alert from the country’s top disaster control authority indicated that the hill torrents and local nul-lahs in the Zhob, Kalat, Nasirabad, and Sibbi divisions are expected to experience high to very high lev-els of flash flooding, potentially damaging infrastructure.
A similar forecast was issued for the hill torrents and local nullahs in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur.
The NDMA has instructed all relevant departments to take necessary precautions to mitigate the pos-sible effects of flooding and extreme weather.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said earlier this week that the current monsoon sys-tem will remain in the north-western province till August 6, resulting in heavy rains with strong winds in Khuzdar, Lasbela, Awaran, Panjgur, Barkhan, Musa Khail, Harnai, Naseerabad, Jhal Magsi, Jaffara-bad, Dera Bugti, Quetta, Ziarat, Killa Abdullah, Killa Saifullah and Kalat.
The monsoon season, as per the authorities’ statement issued on Friday, has resulted in the deaths of at least 30 people across Pakistan due to floods brought by torrential rains with Lahore witnessing al-most 360 millimetres of rain which broke a 44-year record.
It is to be noted that the summer monsoon brings to South Asia about 70 to 80% of the region’s annual rainfall between June and September.
Global organisations, such as the United Nations, see Pakistan as one of the countries most vulnerable to extreme weather and climate change, with floods wreaking havoc in 2022, killing more than 1,700 people and displacing millions. –Agencies
